East Texas college taking donations for plant explosion victims

2013-04-18T23:46:36Z2013-04-18T23:46:36Z

MARSHALL, TX (KSLA) -

Texas State Technical College has campuses all over Texas, including in Waco where a fertilizer plant exploded Wednesday. The Waco campus is just 20 minutes from the blast site. Now they are acting as a shelter for the displaced.

"The first thing I thought is I'm sure we have faculty and students in West that have lost everything," said TSTC-Marshall Communications Director Baily Atchley and she was right. Nine people and their families from the Waco campus are now homeless and the loss is stirring the Marshall campus to action.

"The first thing I thought of was help, how can TSTC Marshall help the victims of this tragic event," said TSTC Vice President Lekisha Roquemore and she along with others found the best way to help their sister campus is to collect donations. "A lot of canned goods, clothes, lots of toys that just got dropped off a minute ago," said SGA President Steven Anderson, who adds the community has responded well. "I think we see time and time again, tragedy brings us closer together," said Atchley and Rocquemore says the outpouring of donations proves, although sometimes tough to find, there is a silver lining to any bad situation,"What it says about the people is, don't give up on us. There are still good people, there are still people who care in this world," she said.

The college hopes to collect more donations. If you are interested in donating, you can drop off your donations at the campus before 5 p.m. Friday.